Wollongong and it's very ordinary form

The celebration of the "Ordinary Form" i.e. Missal of Paul VI in the Wollongong Diocese on Sundays leaves a lot to be desired. It remains replete with the almost extinct liturgical vision of the 1970's which in most places has exhausted diocesan coffers and left the pews almost empty.

The use of female altar servers and readers seems to be the norm, whilst the diocesan leaflet on how to receive communion conspicuously leaves out the reception of communion kneeling and on the tougue which remains the universal practice of the Catholic Church. (Pity help foreign visitors) World Youth Day 08 seems to have done little to change the imposition of this monocultural (Ozzi) liturgical vision.

Attempts in different parts of the diocese south and west to gain access to the usus antiquior or Extraordinary Form of the mass have been quashed both by clergy in favour and those not. Their combined efforts have succeeded in keeping priests from outside the diocese out and stopped any other priest within the diocese who might have been inclined to assist in it's celebration.

"The Reform of the Reform" is unheard of in the diocese. There is no solemn Latin celebration of the Roman Liturgy either in the EF or OF anywhere in the diocese.

It seems clear that whilst Bishop Ingham remains Ordinary, so too will the liturgy in the diocese remain ordinary even in the Extraordinary Form!

PRAYER FOR THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND

While we wait for the Apostolic Constitution

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England, thy Dowry, and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope, was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us, thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross. O Sorrowful Mother, intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold, they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray us all, dear Mother, that by faith, fruitful in good works, we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee in our heavenly home. Amen.

Customary prayer recited at Benediction in Catholic Churches in England.

CARDINAL PELL FOR ROME SOON...

His Eminence Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney is rumoured to be heading off to Rome to take up an import post, possibly in the Congregation for Bishops.

Darling of orthodox catholics in Australia, he is nevertheless viewed by many traditional Catholics as a pragmatist and a politician. Often seen overseas sporting the Cappa Magna and celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, His Eminence was unable to accomodate the traditional catholic youth at World Youth Day with the same favour.

Some have argued that his overseas expliots, in this regard are staged to gain favour with the Roman authorities. Well, it must have worked!

The obvious question now is who will replace him?

Cardinal Canizarez on the Liturgy

Taken from NLM

Soon it will be a year that you were appointed by the Pope as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship ... How do you assess your debut in the Vatican Curia?
It is not for me to assess my performance. All I have to say is that it is a very important time for all, intense work is being done, a plenary meeting of the Congregation has taken place, proposals have been reached which the Holy Father approved and which constitute the plan of our work [NLM: this appears to refer to the "reform of the reform proposals" mentioned by Andrea Tornielli in August, cf. here].

The great objective is to revive the spirit of the liturgy throughout the world. What have been the most pressing issues that you have had to attend to?

Urgent business there is every morning, referring to excesses and errors which are being committed in the liturgy, but above all, the most urgent issue that is pressing all over the world, is that the sense of the liturgy be truly recovered. This is not about changing rubrics or introducing new things, but what it is about, is simply that the liturgy be lived and that it be in the center of the life of the Church. The Church cannot be without the liturgy, because the Church is there for the liturgy, that is, for praise, for thanksgiving, to offer the sacrifice to the Lord, for worship ... This is fundamental, and without this there is no Church. Indeed, without this there is no humanity. It is therefore an extremely urgent and pressing task.

How can the sense of the liturgy be recovered?

At present we work in a very quiet manner on an entire range of issues having to do with educative projects. This is the prime necessity there is: a good and genuine liturgical formation. The subject of liturgical formation is critical because there really is no sufficient education [at the moment]. People believe that the liturgy is a matter of forms and external realities, and what we really need is to restore a sense of worship, i.e. the sense of God as God. This sense of God can only be recovered with the liturgy. Therefore the Pope has the greatest interest in emphasizing the priority of the liturgy in the life of the Church. When one lives the spirit of the liturgy, one enters into the spirit of worship, one enters into the acknowledgment of God, one enters into communion with Him, and this is what transforms man and turns him into a new man. The liturgy always looks towards God, not the community; it is not the community that makes the liturgy, but it is God who makes it. It is He who comes to meet us and offers us to participate in his life, his mercy and his forgiveness ... When one truly lives the liturgy and God is truly at the centre of it, everything changes.

So far away are we today from the true sense of the mystery?

Yes, there is currently very great secularization and secularism, the sense of mystery and the sacred has been lost, one does not live with the spirit truly to worship God and to let God be God. This is why it is believed to be necessary constantly to be changing things in the liturgy, to innovate and that everything has to be very creative. This is not what is needed in the liturgy, but that it really be worship, i.e. recognition of the One who transcends us and who offers us salvation. The mystery of God, which is the unfathomable mystery of his love, is not something nebulous, but is Someone who comes to meet us. We must recover the man who adores. We must recover the sense of the mystery. We must recover what we never ought to have lost. The greatest evil that is being done to man is trying to eliminate from his life transcendence and the dimension of the mystery. The consequences we are experiencing today in all spheres of life. They are the tendency to replace the truth with opinion, confidence with unease, the end with the means ... Therefore it is so important to defend man against all the ideologies which weaken him in his triple relationship to the world, to others and to God. Never before has there been so much talk of freedom, and never before have there been more enslavements.

After so many years of teaching and episcopal ministry, how have you experienced the call to serve in the Roman Curia as "minister of the Pope"?

I accept it with great joy, because it means fulfilling the will of God. When one does the will of God one is very happy, although I must confess that I did not expect something like this. At the same time, the fact of working together with the Pope allows me to live intensely the mystery of communion. I feel very united to him, happy to help him in all he really is asking for. As is known, one of his principal concerns is the concern for the liturgy.

Sounds of Silence?

Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of Divine Worship, to Spanish religious news site Religión en Libertad:

-How to recover the sense of liturgy?

-At this time, we are working in a very silent manner in a whole series of themes related to projects of formation. It is the primary need: a good and true liturgical formation. The theme of liturgical formation is essential because not enough formation is really available. People believe that the liturgy is a matter of external forms and realities, yet what really is missing for us is to recover the sense of worship, that is, the sense of God as God. This sense of God can only be recovered through the liturgy. That is why the Pope has so much interest in accentuating the priority of the liturgy in the life of the Church.

From Rorate-Caeli